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Charity Discussion

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Deety - I apologize if it seemed like I was picking on LDS in particular, which I am not. I started this thread because I was wondering, out loud in this case, if giving to your own church (or, I guess, any church?) constitutes a work of charity. That's really the only question I have, not really to question the operational (or lack thereof) minutiae of any particular church.

To your post specifically, I would ask if giving money to build new temples and/or LDS infrastructure really constitutes a work of charity, but I have this same question of tithes paid to the Catholic church which go to building more churches, or a Buddhist community to build more temples (if that's an accurate analog) or any other denomination or religion, etc.

Or, for that matter, if giving to spread a specific relgious message is in any way charitable in the way we might think of charity.

Anyways, again, not picking on LDS or any particular group, just the broader question of if giving to relgious establishments equals charity.
 
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BusNative;2178195; said:
Deety - I apologize if it seemed like I was picking on LDS in particular, which I am not. I started this thread because I was wondering, out loud in this case, if giving to your own church (or, I guess, any church?) constitutes a work of charity. That's really the only question I have, not really to question the operational (or lack thereof) minutiae of any particular church.
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Sure, and what I answered using the same example is my response for other organizations as well. Where is the money going? Like any nonprofit, churches as charities should be serving the community, not themselves. While I like the LDS tradition of unpaid clergy, that setup doesn't work for every organization, just as nonprofits work with both paid and volunteer staff. The question becomes whether people are paid what is necessary to further the mission or whether fundraising becomes primarily a tool to improve staff's own lifestyles. The line between a charitable organization and a corrupt one is a fuzzy one.

Most nonprofits operate as social clubs because that's how you get the funding and volunteers to further the mission - so it's a judgment call as to when the social networking aspect becomes the primary mission rather a tool to achieve the mission. Churches are particularly blurry in this regard, since the goal is to build a community in service to God - which essentially winds up being a community that serves the community. So I guess even if you are doing it right, that's by definition self-serving... for good.
 
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Oh, thanks Taos. You just reminded me of something. Oddly, I always thought it would be the IRS that busted Cecil...

Anyway, onward and upward.

Wanted to post this here for a number of reasons... first, obviously, it's "local" in the Columbus sense. Second, it's stories like this that cause my previous rant in post #21.

Disclaimer: I don't have any real love for Mike DeWine as a politician or otherwise. So, lionizing DeWine or his family isn't my purpose here at all.
Amid anguish, faith prevails

The visage of Nelson Jean Liptete was the face of Haiti, his tired eyes its sadness, his creased brow its anxiety, his taut jaw its anger, his easy smile its hope.

Haiti?s face was rutted with tears in March when Nelson was shot by a marauding gang, murdered in front of students who loved him in a rat-infested slum that needed him.

His death at age 35 was not unexpected. There long had been a price on his head for the crime of success.

Jealousy is a deadly emotion in the 400,000-person hellhole of Cite Soleil, a Port-au-Prince district where optimism perpetually is crushed by poverty, disease, violence, the next corrupt government, or an earthquake for the ages.

A job can be a dangerous commodity in a slum where desperation feeds rage. Nelson, as everyone knew him, learned that years ago after the Rev. Tom Hagan had rescued him from Cite Soleil?s streets. Members of Nelson?s former gang came gunning, and his 3-year-old daughter died in a hail of bullets.

If that weren?t enough, Nelson?s wife and another daughter died in the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake, along with about 320,000 others.

All deaths might be equal in the eyes of the Almighty, but for the living some people are too important to lose. Nelson was that person for thousands of Haitians.

?Losing Nelson was worse than the earthquake,? Hagan said from a rocking chair this month in an Arena District condo owned by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and his wife, Fran.

Hagan and Doug Campbell, executive director of Hands Together, the Catholic charity they founded, were on their annual fundraising trip to Ohio. The money would be poured into Haiti, into the feeding and medical programs Hands Together operates in Cite Soleil and elsewhere in the country.

And it would be used to support the Becky DeWine Schools, named after the DeWines? daughter, who was killed at age 22 in a 1993 automobile accident. The DeWines collaborated with Hagan and Campbell to start the schools, feeding and educating about 7,800 children before the earthquake.
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http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/insight/2012/07/29/1-amid-anguish-faith-prevails.html
 
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It is too easy for charities to skim off how ever much they want to their true priorities. That sounds cynical but there is much truth to that statement. As far as I know they are under no rules or laws to state their exact amount given to said named interest. Or maybe states just find it too ugly/political to go after charities. Do your research carefully before committing your funds.
But it's easy to give money. Giving your time is a much bigger commitment. I have had friends who worked in the Peace Corp, VISTA and Doctors Without Borders. I admire them greatly for their charity work. I admire them for their great commitment. Give of yourself. Sure it's tougher, but you have some control.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/14/us/animal-charity-investigation/index.html
 
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Taosman;2193140; said:
But it's easy to give money. Giving your time is a much bigger commitment. I have had friends who worked in the Peace Corp, VISTA and Doctors Without Borders. I admire them greatly for their charity work. I admire them for their great commitment. Give of yourself. Sure it's tougher, but you have some control.
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It's a sign of the Mayan apocalypse! I'm in agreement with Taos. Be afraid, be very afraid!
 
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